The Biggest Loser creator Dave Broome is getting into a new ring.
Broome and his 25/7 Productions banner is teaming with Jeff Jarrett's new wrestling venture Global Force Wrestling to executive produce new matches as well as unscripted programming, The Hollywood Reporter has learned.
Jarrett founded TNA Wrestling, which has aired on Spike TV for years. He's a third-generation wrestling promoter and an executive producer who has produced shows for Fox Sports, Spike and Endemol. He and his wife, Karen, have been laying the foundation for GFW since January, when their efforts -- along with country singer Toby Keith -- to buy TNA fizzled.(It's unclear what involvement, if any Keith will have with the new league.)
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The new Global Force Wrestling league, which already has more than 500 performers with additional announcements planned as more deals are finalized, will see Jarrett again bring wrestling to the small screen. Jarrett is considered to be wrestling's second-most-well-known promoter behind Vince McMahon.
GFW will compete with WWE and TNA, with Jarrett and Broome currently shopping TV rights to matches -- which will air both live and live-to-tape -- as well as unscripted fare. So far, Broome tells THR, interest has been high from both major broadcast and cable networks for the new league. The duo is currently meeting with network executives on both the East and West Coast as they shop the league and its likely lucrative TV rights.
"Wrestling pulls in massive numbers, has a huge fan base and networks are realizing that it's great entertainment," he tells THR.
Broome said the plan is to have new GFW content on the air 52 weeks per year as the upstart league looks to compete with more well-known TNA and WWE. The producer behind such live events including NBC's Tsunami AID: A Concert of Hope says GFW will cater to a worldwide audience and feature both well-known wrestlers as well as the best up-and-comers from all over the world.
Broome's deal -- which was set in motion before his overall pact with Sony Pictures Television -- will include live events, unscripted and reality fare.
"It just won't be a bunch of wrestling matches; we have exciting announcements to come. TNA or WWE right now is match after match after match. Global Force Wrestling is not going to do that. There will be matches but there will be a lot more and a lot more variety placed into the actual events that will be really innovative and fresh," he says.
"We're excited to enter this journey with a group as talented as Dave Broome and 25/7," GFW founder Jarrett said. "They've achieved some great things over the past decade and we feel like they can lend a unique perspective both in and out of the ring."
In addition to The Biggest Loser, which is now in its 15th season on NBC and is broadcast in more than 90 countries around the world, Broome's credits also include digital series for AOL and a sports documentary for Netflix
For more information on GFW, check out their website.
Email: Lesley.Goldberg@THR.com
Twitter: @Snoodit
